After finishing work, Jiang Han changed clothes early and headed out of the tavern.
Where would she be? Jiang Han instinctively looked down the street outside Witch House. At six in the morning, it was rather quiet.
Just then, she spotted a witch not far away, standing by a stall selling grain snacks. There was something familiar about her.
As if by unspoken agreement, she walked over to the witch. The other woman turned her head, her light blue eyes fixing on Jiang Han.
Jiang Han stopped in front of Ms. Ye Keshu and lowered her head, unsure how to begin.
A hand pressed down on the hat on her head.
She looked up instinctively and saw Ye Keshu smiling at her.
"Come on." Ye Keshu had one hand in her pocket and the snacks she'd bought in the other. She strode ahead. A moment later, she looked back and smiled at Jiang Han again. "Let's go home."
"Mm." Jiang Han lowered her head again and followed her mother with small, slow steps.
Scenes like this were always awkward.
Awkward to an unbearable degree.
"Jiang Han." Her mother called her again. Jiang Han looked up and heard Ye Keshu say, "You don't have to act like this. I mean... This job's actually pretty good. Ha, it's not that different from being in a song-and-dance troupe. And you don't have to train every day until eight in the morning, or show up at the troupe at six every afternoon. It's pretty good."
"Actually, you play the shamisen pretty well, too." Ye Keshu said. Afterward, the beautiful woman with light blue eyes covered her eyes and let out a helpless laugh.
She felt as if she'd been hit by an Intelligence-Reducing Spell, her tongue struck by six Petrification spells.
She was at a bit of a loss.
How pathetic. Right now, my mind... can barely fit anything in there besides the image of my daughter wearing a qipao... Freud really ought to write a special psychological profile for all mothers, to explain the complicated feelings they had when they saw their daughters grow from girls into women... Ye Keshu took a deep breath, then loosened her collar to let the cold wind cool her overheated thoughts.
Ye Keshu considered herself a work-loving witch. Perhaps she hadn't paid enough attention to her family, but surely she hadn't missed this much?
Of course, things hadn't really changed "drastically." She was only beginning to notice things she'd overlooked before.
Like her daughter's slender waist and the curve of her hips. She was small and thin, but merely petite, not frail. Her calves were rather long, a little like those of her number-one mother, Jiang Xuan. Her chest wasn't like Jiang Xuan's, though; it was more like her own, but fresher and more youthful.
She pulled her attention back. Ms. Ye Keshu was once again struck by the thought, "My daughter has grown up." Why could some people see a mother's love in that, while others saw something more bestial?
It seems my arm is even thicker than her calf. She's so tiny... Tsk, Ms. Ye, you can't keep thinking about this... She's grown up. She's not that little girl who needed help taking a bath anymore. Wait, taking a bath?... Ye Keshu's expression stiffened. She covered her face with both hands and let out a gritted-teeth sigh, cursing herself for letting her mouth run away with her.
...It seemed Mom Ye wasn't going to pursue the matter of me working at the tavern... Jiang Han felt relieved, but then, somewhat confused, she sensed her mother's gaze was a little "hot" and quickly grew wary again:
...It seemed the matter of my job wasn't over yet!
...Maybe Mom Ye Keshu would turn into a hair dryer as soon as they got home.
...Maybe I'd get my little sister scolded, too. After all, in Mom's eyes, she was the one who looked after me.
If she had to explain why she'd been working at Witch House, it'd be best to say, "I wanted to buy some magic items." Magic items came in all sorts of prices, so they made the perfect excuse... Jiang Han made up her mind.
"I've been studying there lately. The manager's really nice and often lets me sit at the bar and read." Jiang Han left out some details about her time working at Witch House. She didn't mention the roll call, or that she'd gone upstairs to drink with the customers.
Witch House was a perfectly legitimate business.
And those things were perfectly proper, ethically, morally, and in terms of conduct. There was nothing salacious about them.
But explaining it would still be a hassle—or rather, very difficult:
"I drank and sang with the customers, then got drunk."
Tsk. It felt like just saying it would make her sound like a heinous villain, even though she hadn't done anything wrong.
"I see. Do you have to work tomorrow, too?" Ye Keshu asked, looking straight ahead.
"I have the day off tomorrow. Well, I made plans to go out with a friend after class." Jiang Han held back some of the truth again.
Because it was still hard to explain.
Whether it was "My teacher's taking me out" or "I'm going out with my teacher after class," both sounded rife with misunderstandings.
"Where are you going with your friend? Want me to take you?" It was hard to explain why Ms. Ye Keshu had suddenly become so concerned about her daughter, but Jiang Han turned her down anyway.
The reason for refusing was hard to explain, too.
"My friend and I are going to see a puppet show after school. I'll probably be home pretty early." Jiang Han kept holding back details, because it really was hard to explain.
See?
A sentence like "My friend's picking me up and driving me there" would be hard to explain under these circumstances—especially after she'd just spent the night selling drinks in a somewhat sheer qipao.
Ye Keshu turned around, seeming to gather her courage as she looked over Jiang Han's outfit.
"Hm?" Jiang Han made a monosyllabic sound, then awkwardly turned her face away a little, looking only from the corner of her eye.
"Want to buy some new casual clothes?" Ye Keshu looked away and went to the management office to fetch the brooms for herself and Jiang Han.
New clothes? There's no need for that... Jiang Han didn't want to go buy women's clothes. Sure, she'd accepted that she was a witch, but buying clothes still felt unnecessary, didn't it?
Think about it:
You could trade a nice new outfit for a whole pile of ingredients.
You could even buy a magic item that wasn't very useful. That would still be more useful than a pretty outfit.
Besides, she spent all day either working or going to class. Who would she dress up for?
And, most importantly! Dressing up for other people wouldn't do her any good.
Considering these various selfish reasons, Jiang Han gave an earnest reply:
"No need. This robe's fine."
She shook the robe in front of her mother, then lifted it with her right hand to show the perfectly ordinary white shirt and plaid skirt underneath. "It fits well."
Ye Keshu covered her face and sighed. "...That's your ninth-grade uniform. You only altered the bust."
"But it's still comfortable and roomy, and I can hang two little ingredient pouches in the skirt lining." Jiang Han straightened up and spread her arms, showing her mother the small white pouches she'd used a spell to sew onto the sides of her shirt.
She'd gotten the idea from television.
Apparently, quite a few witches wore bodysuits under their witch robes, and they often sewed little pockets onto the sides of their bodysuits or inside their robes.
Jiang Han had sewn on two little pockets of her own. They were filled with Northern Gold Chili Powder and Numbing Hot Pepper Powder, which increased the power of Fireball spells. If she had to, she could throw out a high-powered Fireball Spell to protect herself, or even toss the "powder" at a witch who got too close. Sprinkling chili powder on an unprepared witch would definitely take her out of the fight!
Ms. Ye Keshu nodded. She rummaged in her pocket for her wallet and said, "That makes some sense, but you still need a new casual skirt, a pretty wide-brimmed hat, sandals, and ankle socks. Summer's coming."
...Sometimes parents just weren't reasonable... Jiang Han took the money her mother gave her and obediently put it in her pocket.
"I'm an adult." Jiang Han said what every child said.
"Of course you are, Miss Adult. Now let's go home. I'll make you a bowl of rice noodles with pickled mustard greens and thin slices of meat, then add some wontons. How does that sound?" Ye Keshu said with a smile.
The witch tossed her broom outward, then leaped after it and grabbed it in midair. She dove down low before pulling up, flying through the air with a glide that was both thrilling and graceful.
Jiang Han glanced down, sneaking a look at the distance between the edge of Sky Island and the ground. She shuddered, sat sidesaddle on her broom as ladylike as could be, and took off at the standard minor's pace—slowly rising into the air, slowly picking up speed, and slowly catching up.
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